If Uruguay caused a surprise in 1950 by beating Brazil on their own patch to win the World Cup, West Germany went one further in 1954 when they came from nowhere to upset the heavily favoured Hungarian team that featured Sandor Kocsis, Zoltan Czibor and Ferenc Puskas.
Hungary went into the tournament in Switzerland enjoying an unbeaten run that had seen them avoid defeat in their last 27 matches.
The tournament itself was a festival of goals, with matches boasting a remarkable average of more than five per game, a wonderful advert for the game which was being televised worldwide for the first time.
As expected, Hungary came out of the blocks with a bang, putting nine past hapless South Korea and, ironically, battering West Germany 8-3.
German manager Sepp Herberger had elected to rest most of his first-team regulars, opting to chance qualification for the next round on winning a play-off match, which is what happened.
Battle of Berne
Brazil won their first round group to book a quarter-final against the Magyars and the match was billed as the battle between the best teams from two continents.
The Battle of Berne was a fierce tussle in which three players received their marching orders and Hungary limped away with a 4-2 win.
West Germany started to attract attention after their 2-0 win over Yugoslavia, while Uruguay ended England's hopes (4-2) and Austria came out on top during a goal feast against Switzerland (7-5).
The semi-final between Hungary and Uruguay, was a classic, with extra-time periods required to separate the two sides before Kocsis struck two late goals to give Hungary a 4-2 win.
Germany meanwhile were hitting their stride and took care of neighbours Austria with a 6-1 battering in Basel, thanks in part to four goals from the Walter brothers.
Rain dampened the final, but not the Hungarians' resolve as they blasted their way to a 2-0 lead with goals from Puskas and Czibor, leading spectators to believe a rout might be on.
The Germans had other ideas, however, and battled back brilliantly to level the scores through Maximilian Morlock and Uwe Rahn. It was 2-2 and only 20 minutes had been played.
The action swung back and forth for the rest of the first-half and most of the second, but with extra-time looming Rahn struck the championship winner with five minutes left, brilliantly set-up by Fritz Walter.
